Thoughts and opinions of Jessica Faust, one very opinionated literary agent and sometimes the entire BookEnds team. Our goal is to teach, enlighten, and generally have fun.

Friday, November 21, 2008

An Agent's Time

Why are there never enough hours in the day? I know everyone feels this way and I’m certainly no different, however as I watch the submission piles grow and the equeries come in I sometimes wonder what I do all day. How come I can’t get any of it done? So out of curiosity I tracked myself. How long do things actually take around here. Keep in mind this is not necessarily one day’s list, but an idea of how long different projects might take me.

Reading and responding to 25 equeries: 1 1/2 hours on a Sunday morning

Reading and editing the first 100 pages of a client’s next project, including sending it back with a letter: 3 hours

Reading and editing a client’s proposal (synopsis for three books only): 1 hour

Attending the BookEnds weekly meeting: 45 minutes

Reading daily publishing news that comes to me through email: 10 to 20 minutes (depending on how many links I click through)

Only fifteen minutes of the excitement? She let you off the phone after that? LOL.I love seeing how you spend your day. I don't know HOW you edit stuff so fast. Considering how long it takes ME I'm envious.Very cool. Thanks for the insight as always.

I applaud that your staff meetings only last 45 minutes. In my experience back in the real world, staff meetings were the biggest time-suck since campaign finance legislation. It's amazing how some people can drone on for 20 minutes about nothing if someone doesn't rein them in.

You really are organized. Thanks for the glimpse. I found when I retired from my day job I wrote less. I truly believe the busier you are the more you manage to get done.

I'm sure my brain says, "What's the rush, you've got all day." Only problem is, it comes time to walk the dog in the evening and I wonder where the day went. I have to trick my lazy brain and make long lists and then check them off, just so I can look busy. Ha ha.

So how much time do you spend on newly requested partials, especially short ones? One agent replied to my e query within 15 minutes, then requested a partial, and asked for the full ms. two weeks later (one week ago). Why are some established agents faster than others, assuming everyone has an assistant? Just curious!

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About BookEnds

BookEnds is a literary agency that believes in the power of a book. We represent authors who write primarily commercial fiction and nonfiction for adult and young adult audiences. Our agents include Jessica Faust, Kim Lionetti, Jessica Alvarez, and Beth Campbell.